ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: Taking strong exception to the continued illegal occupation of government quarters by certain employees of the police department and other non-entitled persons, the Senate standing committee on housing and works on Thursday called for steps to get these houses vacated.

It constituted a sub-committee headed by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek with Senator Shujaul Mulk and Senator Mohabat Khan Marri as its members to look into the issue of illegal occupations in the broader context of solving the housing problems being faced by the government employees.

The committee meeting was presided over by its chairman Dr Mohammad Ali Brohi at the Parliament House.

It also directed the ministry of housing and works to come out with a long-term strategy to deal with the accommodation problems of the government servants during the service as well as after their retirement.

The committee was given a presentation on the implementation status of the schemes being completed under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme (Phase-I, II) in NWFP. It expressed its satisfaction over the overall implementation status as 1,409 schemes have been implemented out of 1,496 at a cost of Rs444.763 million.

However, the committee asked the departments concerned to give a detailed briefing on scheme-wise implementation status in the next meeting. Out of the 1,496 schemes chalked out for parliamentarians of the NWFP, 94 have been approved for the senators belonging to the province. Out of these, 73 have already been completed and work on the remaining schemes is on progress.